NEW and improved white sacks for recycling paper and card are on their way to thousands of homes across Burnley borough.

The new sacks are being introduced as part of wider improvements to the way Burnley Council collects recyclable materials from homes in the borough.

In October the council introduced new ways of collecting recycling – with around half the borough moving to a wheelie bin system and the other half continuing with a blue box (for glass, cans and plastic) and white sack (paper and card) service.

Those staying on the box and sack system are getting improved white sacks that are larger than the original bags, are sealable, are weighted at the bottom and which have a carry handle.

The improved sacks are being delivered to homes over the next few weeks. Residents can also continue to use the original sacks if they wish. They can ask for extra new white sacks, for free, if they are needed.

Sean Spencer, the council’s streetscene services manager, said: “The new sacks are designed to deal with some of the issues that have been raised by residents. They’re sealable so their contents won’t escape and they’re weighted at the bottom to reduce the risk of them blowing around.

“They also hold more and the handle makes it easier to hang them up for storage and carry them around when they’re being put out for emptying.

“The new sacks will be delivered before Christmas, just in time for them to be used to collect all that extra paper and card that gets generated at that time of the year.”

Residents petitioned Burnley Council to introduce bins instead of the current system, which sees people forced to use white sacks for paper and cardboard and blue boxes for plastic and glass.

More than 750 people signed the petition, which passed the threshold for scrutiny committee members to discuss the issue.

The council began a review of its waste collection and recycling services earlier this year, with bosses looking at national waste strategy before analysing how best to collect rubbish and recycling in the borough.

And proposals to spend £720,000 on wheelie bins to be used for recycling were ratified when the new coalition executive met on June 18.

But only 22,000 homes deemed as suitable for the new scheme.